A Whispering Springs man said someone took a 46-inch Samsung flat-screen TV and a Dell Inspiron computer from his home while he went out for half an hour to get something to eat. When he got back home at about 2:30 p.m.

Leonard and Diane Embrick announce the engagement of their daughter, Mary Elizabeth Embrick, of Bogart, to Jonathon Corey Hadaway of Bogart, son of James and Saconda Hadaway, to be wed in September of 2012.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Larry Elsberry of Athens, Georgia are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Alexa Kathleen Elsberry of Athens, Georgia to Mr. Richard James Scott of Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Douglas Scott, of Kingsville, Ontario.

I've been searching for years for a recipe my grandfather, born in Italy, made each Christmas.
It was a fried "cookie," for lack of a better description - strips of a crisp, light dough that he sprinkled liberally with confectioners' sugar and/or honey.

Two patients from the Georgia Cancer Specialists' Athens office are the first to enroll in a new prostate cancer study; they, and other enrollees, could open up treatment options for future patients.
"Athens can put the flag up on this one," said Dr.

I am a 50-year-old police officer (and alternative-medicine skeptic) with severe osteoarthritis in my shoulder and neck joints from work-related injuries. I had shoulder surgery 10 weeks ago, and I was still struggling with the pain until recently.

A veteran deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office was fired after he was arrested Dec. 4 for fleeing from a Madison County sheriff's deputy who tried to stop him for faulty brake lights, authorities said Tuesday.

PENUELAS, Puerto Rico — A 7-year-old girl who was abducted and slain in Georgia was buried Tuesday in a white dress with flowers in her hair, surrounded by some of her favorite toys and what seemed like much of the population of the southern Puerto Rican town where she was born.

Hundreds of people filled Penuelas’ streets walking behind a horse-drawn carriage adorned with pink and white balloons that carried the body of Jorelys Galarza Rivera to the cemetery.

The Athens-Clarke Commission rejected a request tonight from a Boulevard restaurant to extend the times when it can serve alcohol.
Heirloom Cafe sought to renew an exception to local distance requirements the commission granted in April.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - Laurence Lovette rode around Durham and worried that the man first arrested in the death of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson would tell police where he was, a friend of the defendant testified Tuesday.

Athens-Clarke police released the photo Tuesday of a suspect who they say used a stolen credit card at the Golden Pantry on Jefferson Road, along with an image of his vehicle, which appears to be a Mitsubishi.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Three Florida A&M University marching band members, all men, appeared before a judge today to face hazing charges in the beating of a woman band mate police said was hit so hard with fists and a metal ruler that she broke her thigh and had blood clots in her legs.

MARIETTA, Ga. — Cobb County sheriff's officials say a Lithia Springs man is accused of posing as an attorney and even appearing in court on behalf of clients even though they say he doesn't have a license to practice law.

HIRAM, Ga. — Former House Speaker Glenn Richardson, who resigned under pressure in 2010, acknowledged in a television interview Monday that he had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist but that he distanced himself from legislation that she pushed at the Gold Dome.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Three Florida A&M band members were charged Monday in the beating of a woman during hazing rituals that became so severe that her thigh was broken, police said. The beatings came about three weeks before drum major Robert Champion was killed during a band trip to Orlando. Police say hazing also was involved.

Athens-Clarke Solid Waste Department customers can trade in their old recycling bins for new rollcarts this week. Rollcarts will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Organizers of the Whatever It Takes initiative on Monday unveiled details of a plan to make sure that by 2020, every Clarke County student is on track not only to graduate from high school, but to go on to graduate from college or vocational school afterward.

AUSTIN, Texas — Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Tuesday to fully enforce civil rights protections in next year’s elections amid a flurry of activity by states to redraw political boundaries and impose requirements that could reduce voting by minorities who enthusiastically supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

WASHINGTON - Alexander Graham Bell foresaw many things, including that people could someday talk over a telephone. But the inventor certainly never could have anticipated that his audio-recording experiments in a Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON - Texting, emailing or chatting on a cellphone while driving is simply too dangerous to be allowed, federal safety investigators declared Tuesday, urging all states to impose total bans except for emergencies.

LIEGE, Belgium — Summoned for questioning by Belgian police, a man with a history of weapons and drug offenses left home armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle. Stopping at a central square filled with holiday shoppers, he lobbed three grenades into the crowd, then opened fire.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky opted against a preliminary hearing in his child molestation case, sparing his accusers from making their claims in a packed courtroom today but still vowing, in his attorney's words, to "fight to the death."

WASHINGTON — Eager to put the long and divisive Iraq war to rest, President Barack Obama declared Monday "those days are over" with the last American troops heading home, but he pledged the U.S. would remain committed to the fledgling government they leave behind. He and Iraq's leader somberly saluted America's war dead at Arlington National Cemetery.

MOSCOW — After a week of surprising challenges to his authority, Vladimir Putin faces a new one from one of Russia's richest and most glamorous figures: The billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets says he will run against him in March's presidential election.

WASHINGTON — The militant group Hezbollah has revealed the identities of CIA officers working undercover in Lebanon, a blow to agency operations in the region and the latest salvo in an escalating spy war.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court stepped into the fight Monday over a tough Arizona law that requires local police to help enforce federal immigration laws - pushing the court deeper into hot, partisan issues of the 2012 election campaign.

People who live in Pinewood South Mobile Home Park and supporters are planning a demonstration today to bring attention to the problem of residents who will have their water service shut off next month if the owners of the park and county water utility can’t work out a dispute over more than $150,000 in unpaid water charges.

MEN’S GROUP MUSINGS: A few weeks ago in this space, I wrote about visiting with the Men’s Group at Coile Middle School, a group of students who meet under the guidance of Coile Middle teacher Paul Sellew to learn lessons beyond those taught in the classroom.

Pottery Town was a neighborhood near the Armstrong & Dobbs property in downtown Athens where Selig Enterprises now proposes a mixed-use development, but this community appears to have been forgotten by time and history.

When police do something bad, it always gets publicity. I want to commend Officer T. Johnson of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department for doing something good.
Just the other day at twilight, my car battery died.

With the elimination in the current fiscal year of the College Opportunity Grant program and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership with the federal government, Georgia now stands alone as the only Southern state not offering need-based financial assistance to students pursuing a postsecondary education.

PETITIONER'S REBUTTAL: The online petition expressing opposition to having a Walmart in downtown Athens has been criticized for the fact that a huge percentage of signatures come from people who don't live here.

When Herman Cain, former frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, told a disappointed group of supporters several days ago that he was suspending his bid for the White House, he neither sounded nor looked beleaguered.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Braves are not offering a contract to right-hander Peter Moylan, who has been one of the team's top relievers the last six years.
The 31-year-old Moylan has appeared in 80 or more games in three of the last five seasons.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - New Jersey coach Avery Johnson has been around Mikhail Prokhorov enough to know the billionaire owner of the Nets' NBA franchise has the leadership skills to be the next president of Russia.

LOS ANGELES — The case against Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sex abuse, moves into a criminal courtroom Tuesday, when as many as 10 men could testify publicly for the first time about what prosecutors allege was years of child abuse.

The preliminary hearing on criminal charges against Sandusky will last at least a day in front of a judge who gets to rule on whether there is enough evidence for the former coach to stand trial on child abuse charges.